Chico’s Makes NAFE’s Top 10 List of Best Companies for Executive Women

L'Oréal also made the top 10 list.

BEST COMPANIES FOR EXECUTIVE WOMEN: For the first time, Chico’s FAS Inc. made the top 10 list of best companies for executive women, according to the National Association for Female Executives. In addition to Chico’s, the NAFE Top 10 Companies for 2018 are L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Accenture, Deloitte, Ernst & Young LLP, FleishmanHillard, IBM, JLL and Marriott International.

The NAFE Top 70 Companies are featured in the April-May issue of Working Mother and at workingmother.com. The issue shows how female representation among chief executive officers is growing, while women are lagging among top earners.

This is the first time that Chico’s made the top 70 list. The article notes that Chico’s executive branches almost mirror the level of women in its workforce — some 96 percent of employees and 91 percent of corporate executives. Chico’s FAS, through its brands — Chico’s, White House Black Market and Soma — operates 1,460 stores in the U.S. and Canada, and is an omnichannel specialty retailer. IBM is the only company on the list for its entire 20-year history. The article notes that 47 percent of L’Oréal’s board is made up of women, and at Procter & Gamble, women held 28 percent of the president positions.

Other fashion and beauty companies that made the top 70 list are Colgate-Palmolive Co., Gap Inc., J.C. Penney Co. Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Target Corp. Viacom also made the top 70 list.

Some of the highlights of the 2018 NAFE Top 70 Companies are that female representation among ceo’s increased two percentage points to 14 percent this year, outpacing the S&P 500 at 5 percent. Female executives responsible for divisions worth more than $1 billion decreased to 21 percent versus 27 percent in the last year, most likely attributed to adding 10 more companies to the list this year. The percentage of women in the top 10 percent of earners dropped to 36 percent from 41 percent. Promotions for women increased in every category from corporate executive to manager. For all women, 46 percent received promotions versus 44 percent last year.

Betty Spence, president of NAFE, said, “NAFE’s annual scrutiny of women’s progress at American companies offers essential data about the movement of women into top leadership in the private sector. In this first year of having five NAFE Top Companies with boards of 50 percent or more women, we point to a synergy between the greater presence of women on the board and an increase in the number of winning companies with women ceo’s and with 50 percent-plus women in the c-suite (10 companies.)”

Subha V. Barry, senior vice president and managing director of Working Mother Media, added, “NAFE’s Top Companies shows us what progressive organizations are doing to ensure women’s advancement into executive positions. This year, noting increased enrollment and more companies with high scores, we decided to enlarge the list by 10. Areas such as the number of female CEOS and promotions at every level illustrate improvement. However, while there is increased CEO engagement in making sure women have the best chance to become leaders, we also note there has also been a dip in key indicators like top earners, which needs to be addressed.”

To be considered for the NAFE Top 70 Companies list, firms must have a minimum of two women on their board as well as at least 1,000 U.S. employees. The application tracks and examines how many employees have access to programs and policies that promote advancement of women and how many employees take advantage of them, in addition to how companies train managers to help women advance.

Latest Galleries

FREE ALERTS & NEWSLETTERS

Social Studies

“I grew up in New York but I hadn’t really experienced the city in any type of touristy way…This was probably the first museum I really explored and took the time to see,” said @haileybaldwin of the @whitneymuseum. On Tuesday night, Baldwin was joined by Jemima Kirke and more at the annual Whitney Museum Gala and Studio Party, which honored Lorna Simpson, Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo and Beth Rudin DeWoody. See more photos on WWD.com. #wwdeye (📷: @lexieblacklock)

Displayed starting this week at the @fashiontextilemuseum: An exhibition on designer @orlakiely titled “Orla Kiely: A Life in Pattern,” which spans two decades and contains more than 150 pieces. “I want people to come away loving pattern and print. It’s something that makes you feel so good,” said the designer during a preview of the exhibit. Also on show are mood boards, samples, sketches and more. Head to WWD.com to see more photos. #wwdfashion

Exclusive: @dsquared2 signs fragrance licensing agreement with Euroitalia, with the first effort of the new partnership being unveiled in September. The brand will launch two scents – one for men and one for women – in Italy. Read our interview with designer Dean and Dan Caten on WWD.com. #wwdbeauty #wwdnews (📷: @zefashioninsider)

@louisvuitton has officially renewed Nicolas Ghesquière’s contract as artistic director of women's collections. "I am very pleased to open the next chapter of the story I started with Louis Vuitton almost 5 years ago," said Ghesquière, who first signed on to design the French luxury brand's women's line in 2013. Get all the details on WWD.com. #wwdnews #wwdfashion (📷: @giovanni_giannoni_photo)

“I learned then and there that I had to figure out a way in life to maintain and preserve my sense of pride when I felt good about what I did or what I represented or created,” said @saintrecords on how being bullied for wearing capri pants inspired her to be the artist she is today. Knowles was at the 70th Parsons Benefit last night where she outbid the room for a Dapper Dan customized @gucci experience. #wwdeye (📷: @lexieblacklock)

“There’s this amazing braintrust of people who know the whole universe so well. So we talked to them and they gave us more input,” said actor Alden Ehrenreich on playing the young Han Solo in “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” The cast was at NYC’s SVA Theatre last night for an advanced screening of the film, which hits theaters this week. #wwdeye #starwars #hansolo (📷: @aurorarosedecrosta)

@asaprocky spent nearly two hours in a Plexiglas box Sunday night at @sothebys putting himself through a series of “tests” to demonstrate the process of completing his new album called “Testing.” Get all the details and see all the pictures on WWD.com. #wwdeye

“I’ve struggled my whole life to find a bathing suit that fits me that doesn’t look like a maternity bra. I’m proud of the line because it’s an accurate representation of me rather than me putting on someone else’s clothes,” says @atlantabean of her swimwear collaboration with @piaarrobio, LPA X ATL. The two decided on a swimwear collab and increased the industry standard size for the pieces. Read more about the line — and our interview with de Cadenet Taylor and Arrobio — on WWD.com #wwdfashion (📷: Dan Doperalski)